


Masquerade

by SpectralSecrets



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Doctors actually doing their jobs and not immediately falling in love with evil maniacs., Eventual Romance, F/M, First work don’t murder me, I do not understand this tagging business., Realism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-05-15 14:07:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14791956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpectralSecrets/pseuds/SpectralSecrets
Summary: Harleen Quinzel knows the truth about life: everyone wears a mask. Even her. Finding someone else who knows this truth proves difficult. But wait, who’s that weird nutjob on the screen that appears to know a lot more than a normal citizen? And he’s coming to the place where Harleen has worked at for 2 years?I am very truly sorry for this suckish summary. Read anyways (if you dare...).





	1. The Doctor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skipping past the horrors of university, flying past all of the arguments with friends, the stress of getting good marks and the sheer terror of not getting the job you want, we get this chapter. Where we first see Harleen as a fully qualified doctor.

“Do you have a moment, Harleen?” 

Harleen raised her head up from her paperwork to look at the place where the familiar voice came from. 

“Almost, Joan. Just trying to finish up the notes on Gardner.”

It had been more than one year since Harleen obtained her doctorate, but the title “doctor” still felt as if it was being used for the first time. Since her time at Arkham (as a doctor, she had no intention of becoming a patient), she had become known amongst her peers for having one of the highest cure-rates. The good part of this was that she was respected by others. The downside was that some looked at her with jealousy. Those were the ones who worked at the asylum for decades yet never managed to catch the attention of the higher-ups.

Harleen was thankful that Joan didn’t try to fake her friendship out of a sense of professionalism, but because she honestly wanted to work with her. 

“Would you like any help?”

”I’m good. I think I made some progress in our last session.”

”What kind of progress?”

”I’ve gotten him to accept the fact that the world he lives in is perfectly real. He’s starting to fall out of the delusion that he lived in another sort a perfect universe.”

Joan smiled. 

“You impress me everyday.”

”Ditto”

“Anyways, Dr. Kesley can’t make it to group therapy next week. I was wondering if you could...”

Before Joan could continue Harleen heard laughter ring through the halls of the asylum. The two doctors walked out of Harleen’s office to see the famous Batman dragging the slightly more famous clown prince of crime with him. 

“He caught him already?” Harleen asked to no one in particular. She looked at her colleague to see her have a little gleam in her eyes. 

“You’re not thinking of treating him are you?”

”Harleen, imagine what it would be like to finally get into the mind of the Joker himself! Imagine how many people would...”

Harleen looked at Joan with slight frustration. 

“Is that all you want? Fame? That’s not why we became psychiatrists...”

”Yeah, you’re right. Still, someone’s got to have therapy with him.”

Harleen looked at Joan with a smile. 

“If I had to choose anyone from the staff board to treat Joker I’d choose you.”

She smiled back. 

“I’ll be sure to tell Jeremiah that you said that.”

After saying her goodbyes and watching Joan leave, Harleen looked back at Batman tossing Joker into a dark cell. She had to admit that Joker was an extreme intriguing individual. But she doubted that he’d ever become a “normal” person. He was too strange, too different to be accepted into society. Besides, Joan would probably crack his mind open at one point. 

Little did she know that it would not be the case, and that Jermiah Arkham would be going crazy because of the stress he had trying to find a suitable therapist for the mayhem known as the Joker. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize in the delay for this chapter. I started writing it, then I deleted it etc... 
> 
> Anyways, I hope this shows more of what’s going on in the story and what it’s about. I will try to post the next chapter sooner than later. 
> 
> Reviews are greatly appreciated.


	2. The Clown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Quinzel meets the man who will going to be the most challenging patient she'll ever have.

"You called, sir?" Harleen asked as she walked into Arkham's office. Even if she wasn't too fond of the doctor, she always treated him with respect. Even if it made her want to discreetly run to the washroom and puke out her stomach, she had to remain professional. She worked too hard to just throw it all away because of a secret hatred of her boss. When Harleen exited her thoughts, she saw that Arkham looked more tired than usual. Which said a lot considering that he was a workaholic who rarely ever saw his wife or daughter because he was too busy trying to figure out someone's mind. Suddenly, Arkham seemed to finally realize that she was there.

"I thought I said to be here at 1:30. It's exactly 1:42." While this angered Harleen she kept it in, knowing that he was probably extremely stressed. Offense was just another form of defence.

"I got caught up with some paperwork. I came here as soon as I was finished." She replied. Harleen figured that Arkham would say something close to: _"_ _excuses, excuses"_  . He usually talked to her like she was a child who still couldn't understand how the life of a grownup worked. Just because she was twenty years younger than Arkham didn't mean that he could look at her as if she was still an intern. Instead of coming up with some retort like she thought he would, he just chuckled.

"I understand, you were working. It's the reason why I called you up here."

Wait a second, was Jeremiah Arkham about to compliment her? 

"Since your two years at the asylum, you have made outstanding progress. Some doctors who've been her for more than five years still haven't figured out their first patient. Now, I'm about to give to you what might be the most difficult resident in the asylum. Six other doctors have tried to treat him. One ran away screaming, the second killed himself, the third tried to kill him, two now have their own padded cells and latest made absolutely no progress." 

Harleen slightly shivered. 

"What makes you think that I'd be able to handle him?" She asked Arkham. He chuckled again.

"You're an optimist. You have faith that most people are still redeemable. It's likely that most of his doctors didn't actually believe that they could cure him."

Harleen remained silent as he handed her a beige folder with the words  _"Patient X"_   written on it. She never understood why all the doctors decided to call their patients by numbers or letters. If most of them were already extremely anti-social it wouldn't help alienating them even more from society by removing their name. As Harleen opened the file, she had to have the most comical look of surprise on her face that she ever had in her life. She stared open-mouthed at the file in her hands for a few seconds before coming back to reality. 

"The Joker?! Don't you think that's a little much for me?! Wait a second, isn't Joa...I mean Dr. Leland treating him?" Her shock morphed to confusion and the end of her rant. Arkham just smiled calmly which caused her to fume in her head. 

"While Dr. Leland is a skilled doctor, she still hasn't made any progress after two weeks. I have no choice but to assign him another doctor, and you seem to fit the bill." 

Harleen frowned.

"Are you sure I'm qualified for this?"

Arkham's eyebrows furrowed.

"You're not _scared_ , are you Dr. Quinzel? You are completely qualified to take the job and you know it."

_Okay, THAT'S it._

"I'll take it." She said quickly, angered at the fact that he considered her a wimp. Arkham grinned.

"I knew I could count on you. You have three days to review that file. I suggest you use them wisely."

"Thank you sir, you won't regret this." Harleen replied. Even though she already regretted the fact that she took the file in her hands. Damn Arkham and his psychological tricks.

 

* * *

 

Padded cells were dull. You couldn't draw on them, you couldn't bash someone's head into mush, there was absolutely NOTHING good about padded cells. Really, weren't the stuffy ones meant for the suicidal? He wasn't suicidal, he was juuust... _careless_.

Joker flopped down onto his back to stare at his lovely cell again. He was bored again. And he  _hated_ being bored. His cafeteria privileges were revoked as well as his rec room's, which meant that he couldn't watch all the crazies  _squirm_ as he talked about his latest victim. Sometimes, it was a guard, or one of the cafeteria people, or even the janitors. Anyone he could find to make society hate him even more. But what was reeaally fun, was playing with the shrinks. One by one they would come with promises of normalcy. In return, he would give them promises of a nice grave in the asylum courtyard. While they were fun in the beginning, they eventually grew irritating. Especially the current one. What he wouldn’t give to get a new...

"It's time to meet your new doctor, Clown."

Joker cheered.

"Took you long enough! Who is it? Come on, tell me, tell me! Pleeaase? Ok. Well at least tell me the species! Not the talking type, eh? I didn’t kill anyone you know, did I?”

The guard just stared at him as he opened the door to his cell. Joker stared back until the orderly got close enough. Then, he spit in his face and burst out laughing. The guard had no reaction whatsoever except for wiping his face with his sleeve and dragging Joker out of his cell.

_Is that what they teach them in cop school? To constantly look stoic even if they see there friend getting mauled to death by a psychotic clown?_

As he was led to see his new plaything, Joker looked at all of the inmates and grinned in his usual psychotic way. Giggling as he saw all their reactions. 

"Hiiiiiiii!" He exclaimed, trying to wave at all the loonies while being confined to a straight-jacket. The guard rolled his eyes ( _D_ _idn't teenagers do that sort of thing?_ ) and kept on walking, dragging Joker along.

"We're off to see the wizard! The wonderful wizard of Oz! Speaking of that, HEY JOHNNY!" He shouted as he saw Jonathan Crane trying his best to read his book while ignoring everyone around him. He cursed under his breath, still not looking up as Joker burst out laughing. After a couple of minutes walking down the familiar beige wall the guard stopped walking and faced a door.

"We're here. Try anything and..." Joker snickered.

"And you'll what? Send me to solitary? Revoke all my privileges? Oooh...are you gonna get my brain fried on a daily basis? Sounds fun!" He responded, giggling.

The guard shoved him into the room harder than he should've. When Joker's head stopped spinning, he looked up to see a blond girl who looked like she just graduated university and was attempting to play dress-up in adult clothes. He burst out laughing. 

"They must reeaally be desperate now! They picking up youngsters from the street now? If I kill her, do you think batsy could become my shrink?"

The blonde looked up from the papers that she was reading.

"Do you always expect your doctors to be deaf, or am I just a special case?" Joker stopped laughing.

"Sorry, what was that sweetie?" He asked, pretending that he was the one who was deaf.

"I'm the one who asks questions here. If you would prefer, I could always ask Dr. Arkham to bring you a mirror for you to talk to instead." 

Joker stared at her for a few seconds before howling in laughter.

"So...you have a sense of humour don't you? Is that supposed to make me like you? To tell you all of my deepest, darkest secrets?"

 "While that would be preferable, I doubt that you even know you're deepest, darkest secrets are."

She was condescending. It was far more interesting than the other doctors who pretended to be his best friend. He wondered if she even wanted to be near him. So far it seemed like she wasn't interested in him in any way, shape or form. 

"Do you have a name? Or should I just come up with one to call you by?" Joker asked after studying her.

"I was going to ask you the same thing. Would you like to answer first?" He snorted.

"Joker, The. Your turn."

"Quinzel, Dr." Joker frowned.

"You're not playing fair, _Quinzel._ By the way, what kind of name is that? Sounds like the name of a prostitute from the 70's" It was her continue the silence that followed.

"The only reason that I'm not playing fair is because that would give you an advantage. You're not the referee in this game." Joker smirked, amused.

"Then what am I, Doctor?"

"A player." His smirk left his face, replaced with a scowl.

"Are you saying that we're equals? That we're both just players following the rules of society? 'Cause I'll give you this, I'm. Not. Like. Everyone. Else." This made the doctor smile.

"I never said that you were like every other player." Joker cocked his eyebrow.

"Oh? Then what makes _me_ special, doctor? What makes me different from everyone else?"

"You're the one trying to kill the referee." His smile grew bigger by the second. And then he started cackling.

"Ooooh I like you! You pretend as if _I'm_ the only one who doesn't obey the rules but that's not true, it it, _Doctor?_ " The blonde looked at her watch.

"This session's over Mr. Joker. I will see you in two days." Joker didn't stop laughing as the guard walked into the room and dragged him back to his cell. 

_This was going to be fun._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After deleting drafts, pondering the meaning of life and editing until I was satisfied that this was legible, I have finally updated. Again, reviews are greatly appreciated.


End file.
